


Do Not Go Gentle

by BkWurm1



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst with a Happy Ending, Completed, F/M, Felicity is a BAMF, Felicity's POV, Gen, Mention of prison bunker: Spoiler - they don't use the bunker!, Not that much angst once you get over the island blowing up., Olicity reunion in last chapter, Protective Thea, Samantha is not helpful, Season 5 Finale, Slade and Felicity have a couple interesting conversations, The whole team helps, William barely has five lines (including "Mom!) and not until the last chapter., olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2018-12-30 09:36:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12105858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BkWurm1/pseuds/BkWurm1
Summary: Yes, another story picking up from the Season Five finale and because of that, I hesitated in posting it, but I believe this may be the only one told strictly from Felicity’s perspective.A teamy adventure with Felicity at the forefront concluding with a happy Olicity ending.    Picks up immediately after she speaks to Oliver on the coms about Chase’s sabotaged plane.  It’s a race for survival before the bombs go off and the whole team needs to come together in order to make it home again.  The odds are against them, but Felicity is up for the challenge, but then, you already knew that, didn’t you.  ;)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This will only be three chapters and I have the whole thing written already. (Yay!) I will post the first two chapters right away and the third (and longest) chapter will go up by the end of this upcoming week, maybe sooner.

**Do Not Go Gentle**

**Chapter 1**

Heart in her throat, Felicity dropped her hand from the side of her head when the open comlink between her and Oliver suddenly closed. 

“What did Oliver say?” Dig asked, looking at her with an extra layer of concern.  He had to see the tight fear written on her face.  She glanced at the rest of the faces looking her direction, waiting anxiously for an answer to their sabotaged plane problem.

“There is an ARGUS supply ship on the other side of the island,” she told them, shaking her head, knowing the answer couldn't be their solution. “But there's no time.  He’s there.  Chase is there with Oliver.  I heard him.”

When Oliver first answered her call on the coms, the tension in his voice had been high but controlled.  She’d explained about the plane not being fit to fly and he’d quickly directed them to the ship on the Eastern side of the island.  And then something happened. Chase had to have been there listening the whole time.  She’d heard Chase’s voice, though the words were lost in a flurry of movement, followed by an awful, awful sound from Oliver.  Not physical injury, but fear to the point of pain.

“What about William?  Did he find William?” Samantha demanded, her hands clasped together so tightly in front of her lavender shirt that her knuckles showed white.  And her eyes…Felicity saw a similar kind of fear lurking behind Samantha’s eyes.    

Felicity nodded, giving what little reassurance she could, “I think so.” 

She was telling the truth even if she was leaving out important details.  Wherever Oliver was, Chase was right there with William. And he had him. Nothing else explained Oliver's anguished groan.  Sick to her stomach, she suddenly saw Chase’s whole plan clearly.  Every pawn in its place.  Killing Oliver was never the plan. To suffer, he needed to live. 

Evelyn had been right.  They were still jumping through hoops.  Felicity shut her eyes briefly to combat her terror.  Her faith in Oliver was unwavering; he would find a way to save William without killing Chase, but that wouldn’t be enough.  With Prometheus, it never was.  When Oliver won, that’s when Chase would make certain he lost.

William wasn’t the target.  Which meant they were nearly out of time.  

She turned to Slade, the only one that really knew the island.  “Chase wants to blow the island, which means the island is going to blow.  And soon.”

“William!”  Samantha cried out in panic.

“Soon, soon,” Curtis asked, “or like…” 

Felicity cut him off.  “As in, any minute!” She shouted, praying for whatever time Oliver could buy them. 

“I have to find William,” Samantha announced, only to suddenly run back the way they’d come, deeper into the interior of the island. 

“Samantha!”  Thea shouted and went after her.

“Curtis, get them back here, right now!”

He darted after them, his long legs eating up the distance.  Felicity chased after Slade who had gone to gather up his orange and black face mask.

“Oliver says there’s a boat on the eastern shore.”

“You lot would never make it in time.  I’ll take my own chances.”  He turned to do just that, but she couldn’t let him leave.  The same monster that still occasionally starred in her nightmares was now their best hope for survival.    

“Don’t you walk away!”  She darted in front of him and jabbed him in the chest.  His heavy plated armor would have kept him from feeling it, but Slade’s head jerked back in surprise anyway.     

“You made a deal with Oliver and it’s not over,” she instructed.  “And unless you got hit by lightning in the last three years, then we’re not the only ones who would never make it to the supply ship in time.  So the way I see it, right now, we are all in this together.”  Slade was scowling, but he wasn’t walking away anymore.  In other good news, Thea and Curtis returned with a dejected but cooperating Samantha.  Felicity pressed her advantage.  

“So where do we go?  There has to be somewhere, something.  Maybe a shortcut through the underground caves?”

A light went off in his eyes. Slade hitched his sword more securely on his back.  “Fine, follow if you must, but I won’t slow down for anyone.” With that, he took off at a brisk pace uphill through the tree line.

“This way!” She called back to the team and went after Slade.  Everyone quickly followed.

“Where are we going?” She asked when she caught up to him.  She’d follow him, but not blindly.       

“The next cove over,” he shouted back over his shoulder. “It has access to ARGUS’s bunker.”  

“Of course,” Felicity said, pushing herself to keep pace even while pulling out for a quick look the tablet Oliver had left with her.  “The prison bunker should be reinforced to survive a…”

“A bomb?” Thea helpfully provided.  “Let's hope so.”

“And how's that gonna work,” Rene asked, “with way more than a hundred bombs?”

Distracted by his dire reminder, Samantha stumbled over the increasingly rocky terrain and would have fallen if Dinah hadn't caught her by the arm and urged her on.  

“Not helping,” Dinah ground out between her teeth, adding a glare for reinforcement.

 Rene winced, but shrugged as he kept trotting along, “Just saying.”

“It’s our best chance,” Curtis answered from behind Dinah.  “The good news is all the C4 seems to be near the surface rather than lodged deep underground.  Should be less destabilizing, geologically speaking.”  

“And according to my scan,” Felicity added before returning the tablet to a large, inside pocket of her jacket, “only half as many charges were placed near the bunker entrance compared to the density at which they were planted on the rest of the island.”  Which, sadly, sounded far more reassuring in her head, than aloud.  Half of way too many wasn’t the shiniest of silver linings.

God, how were they going to survive this? 

Her heart was pounding, not just because of the fear and adrenaline coursing through her veins, but from the increasingly steep scrabble up hill.  The tree line thinned down to scrubby bushes and short, stunted trees eking a meager hold out among the rocks. Worry crinkled her forehead; Slade said he wouldn’t slow down, but the uneven terrain was forcing them all to.  Were they moving fast enough to make it to the prison bunker before Chase literally pulled his kill switch?  The Vegas girl in her didn’t like their chances, but, she reminded herself, Team Arrow was good at beating the odds.  Besides, they didn’t have another option.

Optimism via fatalism.  Was that a thing? 

“ARGUS’s regular patrols must have made it harder to rig bombs near the bunker,” Diggle contributed from the rear of the line.

“Great,” Quentin drawled, “so their guards were only _mostly_ useless, instead of completely.”

“Such incompetence can only mean willful ignorance.” Nyssa pronounced.  

“You think the guards were bribed?” Diggle asked, but he sounded like he already knew the answer.   

“You know what they say.” Curtis contributed, sounding almost cheerful, “good help is hard to find.” 

Felicity’s heaving lungs found his cheerful and completely _unwinded_ tone offensive and would have said as much except for the whole being out of breath thing.  Wild Dog came to the rescue.

“I know they say it, but you, Hoss, shouldn’t.”  

Slade glanced back briefly and caught Felicity’s eye.  He’s normal scowling expression held, but she’d have sworn amusement flickered in his one good eye.  

“A whole team full of them.  Here I thought you were the designated Chatty Cathy.”

Before she could reply, Thea, never slowing down, nimbly sidestepped in front of her, defiantly placing herself between her and Slade.   

“No,” Thea said, answering for her, “That, would be Oliver.” 

Felicity snorted at Thea’s reference to the code name Oliver briefly earned the time he’d invited her mother (Behind her back!) to come visit for a few days.  Bittersweet emotion swamped her. She hated when she and Oliver fought, but that fight belonged to a more perfect time before their painfully long break up.  She bitterly resented the end to her engagement even if she still couldn’t imagine doing anything differently.  It was the time lost that she so deeply regretted, especially now with it quickly running out.

Slade eyed Thea’s protective posturing, huffed in amusement and then returned his focus to the climb. 

Thea glanced back and flashed her a smile that said, ‘I’ve got your back.’ Even though Felicity hadn’t felt the least bit threatened by Slade’s comment, she smiled back gratefully, blinking away a haze of tears.  Had the wedding not been called off, Thea would have been her sister by law for almost a year.  Growing up a lonely only, she’d wished for a sister. She’d reconsidered those youthful fantasies after hearing Laurel and Sara’s tale, but still, she was struck by the realization, married or not, this was her family, right here.  Not just Thea, but all of them. 

Pride for her team swelled up.  Slade might find the chatter out of place, but she doubted anyone was ignorant about their chances of survival.  Yes, the chatter was partly born out of nerves, but it was also borne out of defiance.  They would not be cowed into silence by the long odds.  _Do not go gentle into that good night._   Not exactly what Dylan Thomas had intended, but close enough.

A soft smile curled her lips.  The terse and monosyllabic Oliver that first came back to Starling City never would have believed he’d one day happily surrounded himself with a team more likely to defy orders than shut up.  

“Careful,” Slade warned, breaking her train of thought. 

They’d reached the summit and the path narrowed to single file, bringing them dangerously close to the edge of the stone cliffs overlooking the same bay where the Amazo rested half submerged in the cool waters of the North China Sea. 

Going downhill was nearly as hard as uphill.  Slowing further down wasn’t an option, but avoiding stumbling off the edge kept even Slade from making up time.  She glanced over the cliff at the dark grey waves several stories below and shuddered.  As if the drop wasn’t bad enough, the water would be a cold 45 degrees Fahrenheit and infested with sharks.  A fact she'd been reminded of each time Oliver’s shirtless walkabouts displayed the semi-circle chewed onto his back.  And given how often she’d seen him shirtless, that was saying a lot.   

Up ahead, she could see the whole rocky beach and the bunker entrance on the other end.  How much time did they need to reach it?  Distance could be deceptive.  What looked so close might be alarmingly far away.  A few precious minutes had brought them this far; how many more could they possibly have?   

The earth shuddered beneath their feet.  She had her answer; they were out of time. 

“Into the water!” Shouted Slade.  A chain of explosions rocked the air and in the middle of the island, plumes of orange flames roiled up to meet the sky.  The ground never stopped trembling.

Felicity froze, her fear of heights instinctively activating.

“That has to be a four-story drop,” she protested even though intellectually from studying the island, she knew the water below should be deep enough for survival.  Not much comfort to someone that never even made it off the high dive at her local YMCA.  She whipped her neck around, looking for Diggle at the end of the pack of people.   He leveled a look her way that allowed no defiance. 

“More like five.  Now move! Move!” He ordered harshly.

Nyssa and Quentin were the first ones to push away from the cliff’s edge and drop feet first toward the dark waters, immediately followed by Curtis, Rene, and Thea.  Felicity still hesitated, no longer from fear, there wasn’t time for that, but to make sure no one was left behind.  Samantha looked like she was either going to bolt again or pass out. 

“Dig!  Sam!” Felicity pointed and shouted even as Diggle grabbed one of Samantha’s arms and Dinah the other. A pair of rough arms that could only have belonged to Slade grabbed her at the same time.   

And then she was falling. 

Too surprised to scream - not that anyone could have heard it above the continuous cacophony of explosions - Felicity only had time to take a deep breath before slicing through the water.  She gasped at the shock of cold, but thankfully, her already air-filled lungs kept the seawater out.   Momentum sent her deep underwater where even the muffled silence couldn’t stop her ears from ringing.  She looked up toward the surface; daylight came and went as the smoke shifted and the overcast skies were replaced with swirling black shadows and what looked like molten lava.  For a second, panic gripped her.  Was there even a surface left to swim toward?  The pressure in her lungs reminded her she had no choice but to find out.

She kicked toward hell on earth, her lightweight, ankle boots feeling heavy and clumsy on her feet. Her jeans and short leather jacket added to the drag.  She could only imagine how heavy and awkward Nyssa had it swimming in her League of Assassins get up.  Though knowing Ra’s, he’d probably forced her to practice diving for pearls wearing the whole regalia. 

She kicked again toward the surface, this time bumping into something, no, make that someone.  Someone going down. With an eye patch.

Slade.

He was sliding deeper even as he kicked and clawed toward the surface. His suit.  It was heavily armored, weighed down by an arsenal of weapons and waterlogged on top of that.  Without help, Slade was going to drown.  There was enough light from the surface that she could read his expression.  Even as he struggled to live, he knew he was going to die.  Maybe after all he’d done, he deserved to die.

Her heart thudded heavily; once, twice.  Then reality hit.  That wasn’t for her to decide. 

She shot her arm out and grabbed at the sword hilt sticking up on his back, but it slid smoothly from its scabbard.  She released it, letting it get swallowed by the deep and then back treaded in the water, desperate to grasp something, anything before he slipped too far below.  It was harder to see deeper so she struck out randomly and tightly curled her fist around...hair?  Not what she’d planned, but she had a solid grip.  Good thing barbers had been in short supply on Lian Yu.

She kicked her feet hard, scissoring them back and forth, curling her free arm through the water.  For a moment, neither of them moved, and then Slade seemed to understand she was helping and he added his powerful kicks. Together, they worked in time, fighting toward the hellish looking surface, her muscles beginning to burn as much as her lungs. 

She hit the air first, gasping and panting, but still kicking with all her strength to yank Slade the rest of the distance.  Finally, he breached the divide, pulling in desperately needed oxygen, his suit too heavy to get much more than his face out of the water before a wave took away even that.  She released his scalp and grabbed the empty scabbard firmly strapped on his back, treading water hard to try to pull him back up.  She scanned the surface and identified the rest of her team.  Fear and pain pinched a few faces, but all were accounted for. 

“Help me!” She shouted toward Curtis, who was the closest on her right. Misunderstanding, he tried to yank her clear of Slade, but she fought to hold on, so in the end, Slade was yanked further out of the water.  “No! Help me keep him afloat!  His suit’s too heavy.” Curtis narrowed his eyes questioningly, but complied, letting her go and slipping his arm under Slade’s shoulder.   

“Maybe he should take it off?”

“Why didn’t I think of that?” Slade mumbled sarcastically even as he worked to unclip a series of buckles and straps getting in the way of him unzipping the top half of his suit.  Somewhere on the way up, he’d shed the thick, awkward looking gloves that had prevented him from managing to do so before and in short work, he shrugged out of the armor-plated suit, revealing a black tee beneath. With Curtis helping to keep the top half of the suit from weighing him down, Slade pulled a few items from the pockets, hung one of the straps crossways over his chest and then let the blue and black jacket go. 

Slade’s one good eye held hers.  “Thanks.” 

She nodded shortly and turned away, not sure what to do with his gratitude or the thought in the back of her head that he might have saved her life first in forcing her off the cliff.  Maybe she could call it even?  Not that either of them yet was really saved.  What the hell were they going to do?  They’d survived the blasts, but the water temperature meant they had a half hour, an hour at most, to get out of the water or hypothermia would finish what the bombs hadn’t.  But where could they go?

The entire island was ablaze.  The water was churning, though not too violently so she could at least cross Tsunamis off her list of concerns.  She tried to orientate herself, but the heavy shifting clouds of black smoke obscured her view. Her glasses had been swept off her face by the force of the plunge, but she’d gotten lucky.  Patting the side of her head, she realized the hinge must have gotten caught in her hair.  She twisted it free, slid her glasses into place and felt her stomach drop.  Better sight didn’t make for a better sight.  All it did was sharpen in clarity the scared expressions on nearly everyone else’s faces. 

Slade was stone-faced as he looked around. Samantha sobbed, keening William’s name softly, relying on Diggle and Dinah to keep her afloat.  Curtis paddled their direction to assist.  Nyssa was doing something with what looked like Samantha’s tan trench coat that made Felicity think she was trying to turn it into a floatation device.  Quentin looked like he was in shock, a feeling Felicity could relate to.  Thea seemed awed and energized by the rush of surviving, while every ounce of cocky attitude had been stripped from Rene. Naked fear twisted his features.   

She understood that feeling as well, but pushed it down for now to analyze their situation.  Dig, Nyssa or even possibly Slade would probably have a better idea about their next move, her wilderness credentials extended no further than sharing a tent Oliver set up, but the mental exercise of going through the details was a welcome distraction from more than just the wet and the cold.

Some of the smoke cleared and the bright glow from the still burning flames high above their heads placed the cliff they’d jumped from at their backs.  The acrid scent of smoke was heavy in the air, but sheltered as they were by the high sea walls, the air near the water’s surface remained clear.  She estimated that the waves and current had already pulled them out at least twenty feet, but the pull didn’t feel strong enough to be a deadly rip tide. 

Still, even if they could swim clear of the current, where were they supposed to go?  She could guess the direction of the beach beyond the smoke, but she couldn’t be sure the rocky shore, let alone the bunker entrance survived the blasts.  Fear broke to the surface, though not for herself. Oliver had to have survived.  She wouldn’t let herself think anything else, but not knowing was torture.     

From what Diggle had told them earlier, Oliver had been headed to the north side docks, certain Chase had another way off the island and certain he had William.  He had to have made it there, but would Chase have rigged the docks to explode as well? Were Oliver and William treading water right now, just like the team, or would they have gotten off the island by whatever means Chase had planned?  If so, he’d come looking for them, but what if _he_ needed them to come find him?    

Her hand went to her ear, but of course, the com was gone.  She’d berate herself more for not securing it, but the tech wouldn’t have survived a swim in the North China Sea anyway. If they survived this, making all future models waterproof just became a priority.

No.  Not if.  When.

She hadn’t cliff dived from a five-story perch (something that had so _not_ been on her bucket list) just to give up now. 

Even if purgatory had been transformed into something out of Dante’s Inferno.

Even if Oliver could be trapped somewhere in its merciless clutches.     

Her burst of bravado was no match against the primal fear that snaked down her spine, undoing the good of her pep talk.  She tried to take a deep, calming breath, but couldn’t, her throat was too tight.  Fighting back a wave of despair, she closed her eyes, but the dancing flames were already burned on her retinas, jerking and writhing like in a 13th century painting where the wicked were being tormented.  The sound alone as the flames devoured the island was terrifying.  Like a gunfight in a tornado, a continuous cycle of pops and smaller explosions - probably from pine needles and tree sap - as the fires burned at white-hot intensity, heating the air, and creating dangerous vortexes of winds that roared like a freight train coming down the track.   

It wasn’t even close to being funny how out of her depth she was.

Ok, maybe a little funny.  There _had_ to be some kind of pun to make, given they were all literally treading deep water.

Felicity opened her eyes and immediately connected to Diggle’s steady, watchful gaze.  She let out a shaky breath and felt the worst of her overwhelming apprehension fade.  She wasn’t alone; she didn’t have to figure this out on her own.  And somewhere out there, Oliver was alive.  New determination battled back the instinctive fear.  They could do this. This was what her team – her family – did all the time.  They kept on fighting until they found a way to win. They’d already survived the impossible once that day; they would do it again. 

Chase’s winning streak ended now.   


	2. Chapter 2

**Do Not Go Gentle**

**Chapter 2**

Felicity couldn’t stop shivering.  An odd sensation when at the same time, her face felt sunburnt from the heat coming off the fires still consuming Lian Yu. She let John pull her up out of the water to a tilted, but dry section of the deck near the back of the Amazo.  She was exhausted from the swim.  Even with the current already sending them in its direction, pushing her tired muscles in the energy-sapping cold water to reach the half-submerged ship nearly tapped her limits.  

From John’s steady hands she was passed to Nyssa. Her legs felt like they were encased in blocks of concrete, but nowhere near as steady and for a moment her tired brain couldn’t see the point of taking another step.  All she wanted to do was rest, but she let the once Daughter of the Demon’s Head silently guide her to a spot closer to the half-collapsed bridge of the ship so there’d be room on deck for the rest of the team still in the water.  When allowed, she gratefully collapsed to the weathered deck, no energy to even protest Slade’s presence a few feet away. 

Nyssa helped her shrug off her grey leather jacket, a move that seemed counter-intuitive when she was this cold, but was apparently the quickest way to dry off.  She drew her knees to her chest, closed her eyes and huddled into herself for some extra warmth.  Being out of the water and in the heated air helped – a lot –but if she let them, her teeth would be chattering like a…she stopped trying to complete the sentence in her head.  She was too tired for metaphors.  She was cold, wet, thirsty (not to mention sleep deprived and famished) and even with the heat blasting off the burning island, it was going to take a while for it to chase away the edge of hypothermia they all were fighting.  

She opened one eye and looked Dig’s way.  Ok, he didn’t look like he was suffering ill effects.  Must be all the muscles.  And Nyssa, of course, was already back on her feet, if she’d ever been off of them, but she had the secret ninja powers to counteract the cold.  Also seemingly recovered was Slade, who if she opened the other eye she could see doing an inventory of what he carried in the pouches in the lower half of his Deathstroke suit.  Even if he couldn’t compete with Diggle for stature or muscle mass, he was still a powerfully built man.  Probably spent all day in his cell doing pushups - evil pushups.  One handed pushups. 

Clearly, Slade had the scary, big bad thing to excuse him even if he wasn’t acting the part right now.  Guys like him wouldn’t even admit to feeling the cold.  If she was being fair, she’d admit Oliver had that same habit, but this was Slade Wilson; she didn’t have to be fair. 

God, how desperate had Oliver been to enlist Slade Wilson for help?  At least as desperate as she had been on learning the island was going to explode.  Her heart squeezed in a kind of achy, worried pain, partly for how much fear Oliver had been forced to suffer, but also as part of an ongoing, agonized worry for him now, wherever he was.  He and William. 

How long had the child been kept from his mother?  She’d asked Samantha when Chase had taken them captive, but she said she couldn’t remember.  They’d kept her sedated at first and it had distorted what was real and what was a drug-induced dream.  There hadn’t been time to probe for a better answer.  Felicity turned her head and scanned the deck looking for the woman before she remembered there was no way she was on board yet.  Thea was there of course.  She’d lived up to her nickname and had been first to reach the relative safety of the ship. 

How could anyone that small be that fast? 

Thea credited all the time her mom made her and her brother spend at the pool, but Felicity had five years of swimming lessons and those hadn’t translated into _her_ swimming like a seal.  Ok, her lessons had been the type designed to give parents at the hotel's casino a couple kid-free hours in Vegas, but still, she protested on the principle of the thing.  Felicity wasn’t sure what that was right at the moment, but still! 

At least Thea was also sensibly huddled in her spot higher up on the deck.  Despite not being more than twenty feet away, part of the collapsing command center separated them; Felicity studied her for a minute.  Thea looked cold and tired, but she was alert and like the rest of the team, no major injuries, which given the circumstances, was as close to being alright as possible. 

A moment later, Quentin and Rene were assisted out of the water and took the route that sent them up toward Thea near the higher railing.  Felicity couldn’t tell if Rene was steadying Quentin or the other way around. Both wobbled when they sat down but otherwise seemed ok.  Thank god Lance had fully recovered years ago from the piece of shrapnel that had nicked his heart.  That left Curtis, Dinah, and Samantha in the water.  From the way the ship was wrecked, with the length of the Amazo’s hull tilted toward the island, under normal circumstances, she should have been able to track their progress even by moonlight, but the smoke blocked out the moon and the brightly burning fire blinded her to anything right at the dark waterline.  With his eyes carefully shaded, Diggle stood watch next to where the tilted deck was submerged, calmly marking the remaining trio’s painfully slow progress in the water and for now, that was all the reassurance she needed.    

Samantha, it had turned out, couldn’t swim at all.  Nyssa had succeeded in fashioning a surprisingly effective float from the woman’s coat for Samantha to use and Dinah, Curtis and initially Nyssa all took turns swimming her to the wreck. 

If Samantha had been a passive non-swimmer, things would have been simple, but she wasn’t just unable to swim, but terrified of the water and after her initial shock faded, her intermittent panic attacks meant a few meters forward and then a minute of convincing Samantha to not wildly thrash around, or push someone under water in an attempt to climb on top of them.  Sometimes it meant a stop to add more air to her improvised float to assure her she was not sinking, or time spent to convince her that no, nothing was trying to eat her from the great depth below.  Since Felicity knew that last one might be a lie, she let the stronger swimmers in their midst deal with Oliver’s baby mama.  Silently, she wondered if maybe Nyssa had been right, one solid punch to the jaw and problem solved; Curtis was still a bit soft about that kind of thing. 

A piercing sonic scream, amid a loud flurry of splashing, bounced off the water. 

Shark attack?

Felicity was still struggling to get to her feet when Dinah’s voice called out in reassurance.

“Everything’s under control.  This one just needed a little help calming down.”  Felicity didn’t need to guess who Dinah referred to. She suspected the drugs Chase had kept Samantha on added to her paranoia.

Nyssa huffed, somehow managing to make the small sound a clear ‘I told you so’, and then returned her attention to drying her hair. 

“Curtis, you ok man?” Diggle asked. 

“Will be.  I think she drew blood before the scream knocked her out.”

Felicity hoped he was exaggerating and if he wasn’t, hoped they swam a little faster.  No need to linger after ringing the shark’s dinner bell. 

 “Huh,” Quentin said drawing her attention behind her.  He was staring out at the water where the swimmers should be with his head to the side, half bewildered, half in admiration. “How is any of this my new normal?” 

Felicity smiled as she lowered herself back down to the deck.  She’d stopped asking that question years ago.      

“Where’d that one come from?”

Felicity flinched, Slade’s gruff voice still a shock to her system.  She answered quickly rather than let him see he’d shaken her.  She assumed he remembered Lance and was asking about Dinah.  “After hearing reports of her abilities, Oliver recruited her…,”

“No.  I mean the boy’s mother.  Oliver never mentioned her before.  He would have.”

She scoffed.  “What? Upset you didn’t know about William when you were plotting revenge?”  She pulled her knees up to her chest again.  “At least that’s one silver lining in Samantha hiding the truth from Oliver,” Felicity mumbled into the crossed arms she braced against her legs.      

“Yes,” Slade agreed quickly, surprising her.  “Yes, it was for the best.” 

She lifted her head from the cradle of her arms and examined his expression.  The relief on his face matched the unexpected tone she heard in his voice.  The relaxed tension in his brows was fleeting though, chased away by a brooding look.  She shivered, but not from the cold this time.  She’d seen that weary, haunted expression too many times in Oliver’s eyes and the sympathy that sprang up was automatic.  As was the guilt that followed.  She didn’t want to feel sorry for Slade.    

At least her unwelcome sympathy remained a dirty secret since Slade wasn’t looking her direction.  He wasn’t really looking at anything, not even the crackling flames obscuring the beach in front of them, but he kept talking and like she did with Oliver, she let him. 

“I’d like to believe even as lost to the Mirakuru as I was, that I’d not have crossed that line, but…but it is better that belief was never tested.”

“Is that why Oliver risked letting you out?” She waved her hand at him vaguely. “Did you claim after all this time, the cure finally finished working? I’m not saying I’m a believer; you were planning on abandoning all of us, but you do seem a lot less…murdery than before.”

Slade laughed, a short, harsh bark of a laugh.  He shook his head.  “Oh, he was far more reckless than that.  The kid came to make a deal even before I told him the Mirakuru was now out of my system.  Came with a trade.” 

“Which was?”  She and Oliver were still going to have that talk, but she never liked waiting for answers when she didn’t have to.

Slade unsnapped a small pocket on his outer thigh, pulled out something small, and held it out for her to see.  She quickly identified it as the kind of memory stick she used in the Arrow Bunker.      

“Oliver wanted my help,” Slade explained.  “My freedom and information about my son in exchange for help with his son.”

“Joe.”  The name softly escaped her lips.

Slade went still, his eye widened.  “You know about Joe?  He talked to you about my son?”

Felicity bounced her attention between the fob Slade held in his hand and the man himself.

“Does that surprise you?” She asked.  “That even after you killed his mother, Oliver still kept an eye on your son?  Wondered if Joe’s life would be better or worse knowing the truth about his father?  That Oliver wanted to make sure he was doing ok?” 

Felicity shook her head and blinked back tears that wanted to form.  

“Oliver left the island, but the island won’t ever leave him.  Not the pain, not the impossible choices and never the people.  Oliver never forgets the people he’s loved in his life.  It’s not who he is.  I don’t know who you are now or if it’s too late for that to even matter anymore, but what mattered to a man he once called a brother, that never stopped mattering to Oliver.”

“You love him a great deal, don’t you?”

She saw no point in denying it. Felicity dropped her eyes to the thumb drive Slade still held in midair and scoffed.   “Lucky for you, I do.”  She snatched the drive from his hand and spit into the open end before he could stop her.

Slade roared his displeasure and clamped his fist around her wrist.

“What are you doing?!”  His dark anger set her nerves jangling, but there was sanity in his confusion.  She did not flinch.

“You a favor.  Data on a flash drive might survive getting wet, but dried salt water is extremely corrosive.  Ideally, I’d have used a bath of distilled water, but sorry,” she shrugged determined to act more casual than she felt, “fresh out.”

“Let her go, Slade!”

When or where Diggle had found a gun she had no clue, nor could she recall at the moment the odds of it working so soon after being submerged.  Fortunately, no one had to find out.  Before she had the chance to defuse the situation, Slade released her and held up his hands. 

“My apologies.  Just a misunderstanding.”     

John held his aim steady.  All around the deck of the Amazo, the rest of the team were on their feet, alert, including Dinah, still dripping water, who came up behind Diggle to back him up.  Wet or dry, they knew her power still worked.

“Felicity, you ok?” 

She nodded at John.  “I’m fine.  He’s telling the truth.”

“You are certain his life should be spared?” 

Felicity swiveled her head at the sound of Nyssa’s question and widened her eyes, surprised to see the stealthy woman positioned higher on the deck, but only a few feet from where Slade sat with his hands in the air.  She appeared unarmed, but then, Nyssa’s whole body was a deadly weapon.  The gun aimed at Slade’s head hadn’t made him tense, but sweat beaded on his forehead now.  He’d heard the same larger question in Nyssa’s voice.  After all, she’d been right about Samantha.  Why wait for trouble?      

Felicity would be lying if she said she wasn’t tempted, but no, Oliver had made a deal and so far, Slade had kept up his half.  Plus, that wasn’t who they were as a team.  And she’d like to think it wasn’t who Nyssa wanted to be either.  She shook her head.  “Stand down.” 

She made certain to catch the eye of everyone on her team, including Nyssa and an antsy Thea behind her.  Only Curtis still in the water with the unconscious Samantha was left out.  She didn’t want there to be any confusion.  “Oliver’s deal with Slade still stands.”

  Nyssa waited a heartbeat before gently inclining her head and smoothly backing away, returning to her lookout position near the railing while Diggle holstered his gun in the waistband of his jeans.  He nodded at Felicity and then cocked his head toward Quentin and Rene to come help with Cutis and Samantha, leaving Dinah to keep a watchful eye on Slade, just in case.  Felicity held out the USB drive to Slade.

Keeping his movements deliberately slow, he took it and stowed it back in the pouch on his thigh.    

“Thank you.  Chances are you just saved my life for the second time.”

Again, she was uncomfortable with his thanks, especially since this time it had been her actions that caused the incident.  Not that she planned on apologizing.  Instead, she simply repeated what she told the team.  “Oliver made a deal.”

“So he did.”  His eyes flickered to his right, catching Thea’s movement as she came the long way around toward Felicity.  “One thing more before you’re saved from my presence.”

She glanced at Thea.  She was wearing a determined expression and Diggle kept glancing over, even as he carried William’s unconscious mother to an open spot opposite of where Slade rested.  Felicity loved them all for their concern, but it was a little embarrassing since she knew she’d been fine.  Maybe a change of scenery would attract less attention. 

“What is it?” she asked to hurry him along so she could leave.

“Joe.”

Slade spoke the name of his son and something deep and serious passed over his face.  “Did he…did Oliver ever..,” Slade trailed off without finishing a question he was clearly wasn’t sure he wanted an answer to. 

“No,” she said.  “Oliver never got the chance to decide what he wanted to tell him.  Joe’s trail went cold off and on, but we had no reason to think he was in trouble; some parts of the world are simply easier to get lost in than others.  I imagine the data drive should have his current, last known, location and a few good ideas where he might have ended up.  What do you plan on doing once you find him?”

If Oliver thought information on Joe would have been enough to secure Slade Wilson’s help even without knowing he was no longer in full Kill Bill mode, she could assume the man would search for him, but it was what he’d do after finding him that was a mystery.  She had no reason to believe he’d confide in her, but she was curious, so she asked anyway.

Slade again let out a short burst of rough sound that for him, passed as laughter.  “You actually think any of us are going to get off this island?”

“I do.”  She answered simply.

“You think Oliver will save you?” It was asked with genuine curiosity, not the mocking derision she expected.

She nodded and added, “Or we will save him.  One way or the other, we’ll figure it out.”

“Then in answer to your question, I don’t know.”

It took her a second to remember what his answer was about. Not the most illuminating reply, but she was struck by the notion it was at least an honest one. 

“Whatever you decide,”  she said to him, “I hope it turns out for the best.”  Not much better than a platitude, but she’d been compelled to say something.  Not that she was actually trying to cheer up Slade Wilson…was she?

“As do I Ms. Smoak, as do I.”

 

  

         


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The entirety of this story is, in a lot of ways, too short. There’s just so much story that could be explored, but I’m hung up on wanting to see where the show takes everyone after the island rather than trying to second guess it all ahead of the time. But I also suspect we aren’t going to see Oliver and Felicity’s reunion on the island so I really needed to take care of that, hence why this story got finished, lol. Hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 3**

Felicity sat with her feet wedged against a salt-encrusted coil of rope and surveyed the view from her new spot of prime real estate.  Slade remained down on the part of the Amazo’s deck tilted closer to the water line while most of the rest of the team occupied the more steeply inclined upper section.  Higher ground.  According to Obi-Wan, it was very important.  Off to the side, Dinah and Nyssa were doing double duty keeping an eye on their one-eyed frenemy while watching over the still unconscious Samantha.   

Thea sat scooted next to her, their arms linked, with her head resting on Felicity’s shoulder giving and receiving comfort while she mostly just listened to the discussion going on around her.  The goals were clear.  Find Oliver and William and get off the island.  For now, they concentrated on the first part.  Oliver might find them first, but they couldn’t assume that.  He, along with William, could be hurt or stranded as well. They couldn’t just wait to be rescued.

“Wouldn’t a boat be better than tossing together a raft?” Curtis asked, his pointer finger trying to nudge up on his nose non-existent glasses.  He’d been less fortunate than she and lost his in the jump. As the member of their group longest in the water, he’d been quiet during most of the discussion, more preoccupied with the waves of shivers wracking his body than helping them make plans.          

They weren’t without options; there was no telling what they might find in the partly collapsed bridge on the Amazo even if they determined the radio was toast, but time was against them.  They were out of the water, drying off and safe from the fires for the moment, but among other pressing issues like finding Oliver, they didn’t want to remain tethered to one spot when all it would take was a shift in the wind to send the suffocating smoke their way. And if _they’d_ survived, there was a chance Chase’s fan club might have as well. 

 “Boat, raft, call it what you want, Hoss, but nothing fancy is coming out of some rope, a few planks and half a dozen barrels.”

They’d left Laurel’s dominatrix doppelganger and Nyssa’s big sis tied up with a few of her surviving minions in an old temple (that just _happened_ to exist on a deserted island along with a secret prison and magical caves.)  Nyssa was not certain the bonds securing their prisoners would have held against League training.  There was a lot more certainty about the iron cage Evelyn had been left locked in.  Even if Black Siren or Talia escaped and even if honor among thieves (ninjas?) did exist, there hadn’t been enough time for anyone to reach Evelyn.  That section of the island had been the first to see detonation.  The girl betrayed them in the worst way, but Felicity prayed her death came quickly; the alternative would spin off its own series of nightmares. 

Repairing the ship’s broken radio was a pipe dream so as Felicity told Diggle, their best chance rested in whatever the ARGUS guards used to communicate with the mainland, but that first assumed the prison bunker on Lian Yu survived the explosions. It seemed likely, but it was hard to verify when it could be hours or even days depending on the wind before the flames billowing onto the beach burnt out and allowed them close enough to check.  When their chance came though, even a crudely built raft would be better than trying to swim the distance to the shore.  They’d spotted at least four disturbingly distinct and menacing fins circling around the ship.  Apparently, at least to sharks, Curtis tasted delicious.     

The half toppled command tower on the Amazo was not blocked by a wall of flames or separated by a sea of sharks, but further searches of the shaky structure would be extremely hazardous until daylight.  They’d thought about fashioning torches to light their way, but open flames in a sun-baked, wooden tower were too risky. They couldn’t lose their only safe haven.  So for now, all they would do was search the outside accessible parts of the ship for suitable items and hope the beach would clear by the time they’d put their raft together.

 “No,” Curtis shook his head, “I mean what about the lifeboats on the ship?”

“Do you see any rubber rafts lying around?”  Rene huffed. 

 “Are those the automatically inflatable kind?” Thea asked.  “What does an inflatable raft even look like when it’s not inflated?” 

Diggle answered.  “Look for a hard-sided, plastic container, either suitcase or barrel-shaped, with a ripcord on one end.” 

“So best case, someone finds us a raft,” Quinten summed up, “but if not, we need more rope, something to be used as paddles, possibly a sail, and more decking.”

“Plus really, anything else that looks interesting,” Felicity added.  With the right bits and pieces and she might be able to rig something with the tablet Oliver had provided.  She now looked at the tragic Latte Spill of 2012 with gratitude, (the real one, not Oliver’s original bullet-riddled excuse, though she cherished that for different reasons).  Without it, she might not have made it standard operating procedure for all handheld tablets used by or around the team to ALWAYS be placed in a waterproof case.  Rigging an antenna powerful enough to make the tablet of any use was a long shot among all the rest of the long shots, but a working tablet at least kept their options open.   

The group broke up to start the scavenger hunt, but Curtis held up his hands.  “Wait, wait, I’m really confused here, guys.  Is there some reason no one wants to use the lifeboats?”

Felicity frowned.  Extreme confusion was one of the symptoms of advanced hypothermia.  Had his prolonged time in the cold water been more damaging than they realized?  But other than adjusting imaginary glasses and fixating on invisible lifeboats, Curtis was acting like Curtis.  She tilted her head.

“Maybe we’re the ones confused.  What lifeboats exactly are you talking about?”

“Um, the two huge, bright orange, fully enclosed, fiberglass pods still on the back of the ship.” 

“Wait, what?”  Felicity paused.  She did remember seeing something bright colored on the Amazo even when they were running along the cliff.  “You are saying those small, orange bulgy things at the back are lifeboats?” 

“They don’t look like no lifeboat or any boat I’ve seen.”

“Oh, come on!  Rene, you were a Navy Seal!  How can you not know this?  And what about in _Captain Phillips_?”  At the team’s blank expressions, Curtis explained.  “You know, boarded by Somalia pirates, ‘I’m Captain now.’  Did no one see that movie?”

“Curtis!”

“Look, I’m sure the lifeboats are bigger than they looked and the hulls are enclosed to protect survivors from the elements and rough water.  Plus the design allows for fast drop launches right into the water.  Even if it turns over, it will right itself like a buoy.”

“Enclosed?  If we can’t paddle in it, is it any use to us right now?” Diggle questioned. 

“There would be side hatches, but that’s not important.  You don’t need paddles.  A model that size is going to have a motor.  And fuel. And technically, paddles as well, among, usually, many other things.”

Thea piped up.  “How do you know this?”

“Ocean-going ships are a hobby of mine.  There’s something kind of mythical about sailing the seas:  man against nature, the challenges of design, the enforced community of the crew, the long time away, the very cramped quarters…,  I, uh, I like ships.  More importantly, I know them.”

“Show me,”  Diggle ordered, wasting no more time. 

Only a few hours later, they had one of the two, large, shockingly orange lifeboats in the water and the engine fired up.  They’d been lucky again. The fiberglass hull was made to withstand the elements and the hatch had remained tightly sealed.  Eight years of idle neglect was better than eight years of exposure.  They’d had to clean out the fuel line and improvise a battery to provide the needed spark to turn over the engine, but with an abundance of salt water, wire and metal scraps available, she and Curtis had no trouble improvising.    

“I still don’t get why when the ship sank, no one used them.”

“Maybe,” Curtis mumbled under his breath, “because no one was paying attention when they were in the Navy.”

Felicity smiled, but the real answer to Rene’s question wasn’t pleasant to think about.  Felicity had heard the story.  Most of the crew and prisoners on the Amazo died during the final fight while Oliver and a few other survivors like Anatoly had been scooped up by Waller.  Slade, presumed dead, under the cover of darkness and amped up by Mirakuru swam to an inhabited island, which had left only Sara, who at the time, Oliver had also presumed was dead. 

Sara must have stayed hidden or even been unconscious until after ARGUS left Lian Yu.  Would she have known what the brightly hued pods were for?  Felicity doubted Sara’s time on the Amazo included safety drills. Nyssa found her weeks later alone on the island, dehydrated, starved and willing to go along with any requirements of the group behind her rescue.  It was haunting to think had she known about the lifeboats, Sara could have had an alternative to signing her soul away to the League of Assassins.    

“Lucky for us they didn’t use them,” was all she offered aloud.  Sometimes it was better to just accept the good things in the present than dwell on the past.  

They’d chosen the pod on the port side of the ship.  The 30-degree tilt of the half-sunk freighter put the lifeboat much closer to the waterline and Curtis had been right.  They were a lot larger than they’d looked from a distance.  One seated twenty.  It was all they needed.   

“Did the motor power up the radio?” She called to Dig as he popped open a hatch on the side, leaving the engines idling, and climbed back aboard the Amazo’s deck.  He let Rene and Quentin manage the ropes securing it into place.  The test drive was a success.

Diggle nodded and everyone slumped in relief.  “Better than that, I already reached ARGUS.  They’ll be here in a few hours.”

“Hours! We have to go now!”  Samantha shoved Dinah away from her and flailed her arms wildly, holding a disgusted Nyssa at bay.  “I have to find him!  I have to find William!”

Frustration warred with sympathy for the woman.  Samantha had clearly used up her last reserves on the island after she’d first been freed.  There had been signs even then of her instability, like when she stated her intent not to get on the plane.  Fear, exhaustion, and remnants of whatever they’d sedated her with left her at times irrational and manic. They didn’t want to knock her out again (ok, they all WANTED to knock her out, but had agreed it was probably not worth the risk to her health) and the thought of tying her up and gagging her, even for her own safety left a sick feeling after all she’d been through.  

In hindsight, it’s what they should have done, but none of them were operating at a hundred percent.  Mistakes happened and in the confusion of calming a once again hysterical Samantha, Slade made his move.  Later, Felicity couldn’t even believe she’d been surprised. It took the gunning of the lifeboat’s engine before anyone realized what was happening.    

“Aw, hell no!”

“That son of a bitch!”

“No, no, no, no! Slade!”

John pulled his gun and took aim, Nyssa whipped a knife she’d kept hidden somewhere into the open hatch and Dinah let loose a scream that rocked the orange capsule side to side, but Dig didn’t have a clear shot, the knife elicited no cry of pain, and the boat was too buoyant and just righted itself and kept going.  Rene was already in the water, Quentin pacing the deck and Curtis ready to dive in when Diggle stayed him by placing a hand on his shoulder.  The lifeboat chugged past the hull of the Amazo and headed out to sea; there was no way they could catch him.  

  In the background, Samantha was wailing even louder.  Frustration made Felicity want to stamp her foot. She scrambled up the tilted deck to the railing on the other side of the ship.

“Slade! Come back here! You made a promise to Oliver!”  She called out desperately.  His deep, mocking laugh easily reached her ears.  Sound carried well over water. 

“Way I see it, promise fulfilled.”  With a final mocking wave, he sealed the hatch.  Soon the lifeboat was beyond the glow of the fires consuming Lian Yu.  Only the steady drone of its engines remained.

Someone, probably Thea, had gotten Samantha to quiet down while Quentin continued to pace up and down the deck, muttering and cursing not so silently under his breath.  Diggle and Nyssa were stoic while Curtis, helping Rene back on deck unleashed a torrent of words Felicity was too upset to assign sense to.  Part of her had wanted to join Samantha in her wailing.  Oliver and William were still out there.  They’d been this close to starting the search.  All the horrible “what if’s” flooded her mind before she slammed the door on that pointless, negative, line of thinking.  But the fact of the matter was, she’d let her guard down.  She never trusted Slade, but they’d all been in the same situation, trying to get home.  She’d thought they’d be on the same page at least until they’d reached the mainland. 

“ARGUS _is_ coming.”  Diggle reminded everyone. 

Was that just another lucky break for their side and Slade would have taken the lifeboat with or without a guarantee of rescue, or was Diggle’s announcement the very thing that made Slade decide his half of the bargain had been fulfilled?   She stewed over the question for a bit longer and then decided it really didn’t matter.  Slade had taken the boat and instead of being out on the water that minute searching for Oliver and William, they were back to square one. 

They had the second lifeboat, but there’d been a good reason why they’d not tried for the starboard side pod. Again, she wanted to scream in frustration. The weird angle of the ship made everything harder.  They would need to find a way to release the tension on the thick wire connecting the pod to the scaffolding and then rig pulleys or something to swing the lifeboats away from the deck of the ship and into the water.  The angle was uphill and all wrong.  The one time having the higher ground was NOT an advantage.  And even presuming the interior was in as good condition as its twin, to get the motor started, they’d have to vet another engine and build another battery which meant finding more wire and more metal rods and containers and….

Her swirling thoughts went blank as a noise intruded.  A motor.  Slade?   Was he coming back?  But no, if she strained, she could still faintly hear the engine of the lifeboat.  This engine sounded lower, more powerful.  And coming from the opposite direction! 

“Boat!  I hear another boat!”

“That can’t be ARGUS.” 

“Ollie?”

No, Diggle was right, it was far too soon for ARGUS, but, oh god, she wanted it to be Oliver.  Her heart beat double time and all her instincts screamed for her to turn back to the railing and shout to get his attention, but they knew Oliver wasn’t the only possibility left on the island.  Even if Chase always planned on dying and double-crossing his crew, it was hard to believe Talia al Ghul wouldn’t have had a contingency plan.  She hadn’t seemed like the trusting sort. 

“Quiet!  Everyone get down out of sight!”  Dig ordered.  Felicity dropped to a crouch but made her way back down the deck for a better vantage point.  She shouldered her way between Nyssa and Dig where they hunkered down mid-deck behind a stack of crates that had a narrow horizontal gap perfect for viewing the approaching vessel.  She had to see. 

Someone whimpered behind her, but before Samantha could make another sound, Dinah clamped her hand over her mouth and then turned toward Felicity with raised her eyebrows, silently asking if she should now risk knocking her out again.  The thought was tempting, but she shook her head.  The sound of the boat said it was still too far away for normal conversation to reach it, but Dinah’s cry was sure to carry. She crawled closer to Samantha and spoke quietly, but firmly, desperately hoping to get through to the woman.

“I need you to stay silent.  William’s life might depend on it.  Even if you see or hear him, you can’t make a sound.  We have to first know who’s in control of the boat. If it’s one of the kidnappers, our best advantage is surprise and if you take that away, we may never save William.” Or Oliver, she silently added.  “Do you understand?  Right now William needs you to stay quiet. No matter what.  Can you do that?”  Wide-eyed, but calmer, Samantha nodded.  Felicity gave Dinah the cue to back off for now, but to keep a close watch and then scooted her way back next to Diggle.     

The noise coming from the motor was considerably louder as the boat angled around the curve of the island, skipping from wave to wave.  The glow of the island created a shadowy backlight, but she could make out the lighter hull with a darker superstructure above it, big and tall enough to be a cabin cruiser if not exactly an ocean-going vessel. The angle, distance, and odd shadows kept her from seeing anyone on the deck though, for all she knew, they could be controlling the boat inside the cabin area. 

Once past the cliffs, they throttled back the engine, slowly puttering parallel to the rocky beach.  High tide had been coming steadily in for the last couple hours, letting the boat close to the shore though heat from the fires kept them from getting even closer.  She knew the boat was further away than it looked, but she was certain if it had been daytime, few of their hiding spots on the Amazo would have kept the passengers of the cruiser from spotting them.  Shadows and silence were their best cover.

Felicity glanced again at Samantha.  To her relief, she was calmly and more importantly, quietly curled up next to a pile of rope, not even watching what was happening near the shore. Dinah was still at her side.  Felicity looked around the deck counting heads and spotted Curtis, Rene and Quentin huddled behind various pipes and barrels closer to where the water crept on deck, but no Thea.  She wasn’t too worried; there were a dozen shadowy hiding spots and if she couldn’t see Thea, then neither could the crew on the boat.

She refocused on the island.  Whoever was operating the boat clearly was searching for something.  More likely someone.  Most likely them.  But WHO was doing the looking?  Frustration washed over her.

God, what she wouldn’t give for binoculars.  Her silent wish – Felicity paused and glanced side to side just to make sure she hadn’t spoken the all-consuming thought aloud - her silent wish was made bitter knowing all the goodies that had been stocked in the lifeboat Slade stole.   From water to rations to sewing kits to flashlights and yes, a couple pairs of binoculars. Ivo might have been an evil, mad scientist, but he’d followed the international maritime laws governing mandatory emergency kits when he outfitted the Amazo.  Probably figured he’d be the only one using the lifeboats. 

Once they’d popped the hatch, Thea had delightedly dug through the stash while they’d worked on the engine and the battery.  But apart from passing out water to everyone (and would she now occasionally crave plastic flavored H2O the rest of her life?), they’d left the supplies on board while Diggle started the engine and took the lifeboat for a short test run. 

Hindsight.  She was a bitch. 

Along the shore of the island, the search continued. The boat turned and was making another slow pass close to the shore, headed back the way it came. The shadows were still all wrong, making it still impossible to see from this distance who was on board.  Time was running out.  If it was Oliver, they needed to get his attention before he gave up searching the beach and moved on to another part of the island.  But if they were wrong and it wasn’t Oliver, they had nowhere to run.  She’d just turned to whisper to Dig they were going to have to risk it when she heard over the wind and crackling fires, a plaintive cry.

“Mom?!?”

The hair raised on the back of her neck.  It was William.  It had to be. 

She whipped her head around in time to see Samantha suck in a breath, but Dinah was faster and once again clamped her hand over her mouth to keep her from making a sound.  William’s mother didn’t try to fight her, but the tears that began running down her face showed how much staying still was costing her.  It was costing Felicity not to shout Oliver’s name as well.  Oliver had been with William.  She was as certain of that as she was Chase was dead or the island wouldn’t have blown, but hours had passed.  At least logically, she had to consider the possibility that one of Chase’s lackeys was using William as bait.  For the boy’s sake, they had to identify who was with William before they revealed themselves.    

They needed those binoculars.  Felicity had just gotten to her knees, ready to make a dash for the other pod that presumably would have been equipped with a matching survival kit, when Thea came sliding in next to her, earning a frown from Nyssa as she squeezed her off even further to the side.  The younger Queen ignored her and handed Felicity a pair of binoculars before reaching for the other pair hanging around her own neck. 

Beyond grateful for Thea’s foresight and quick trip, Felicity pressed a big, wet smack against her temple and then, though it killed her to do it, handed her pair of binoculars off to Diggle, knowing they had no time to waste and her glasses were only going to get in the way. 

Another mournful call from William filled the air while they waited for confirmation that Oliver was with his son.  Oliver had to be there; she refused to believe anything else.  Caution had to prevail, but after finding his son, would anything but death explain Oliver allowing William to be taken from him again?  Felicity couldn’t ever again accept a world without Oliver in it.  She fisted her hands to stop their trembling, digging her nails painfully into her palms, and holding her breath while she waited for her world to start spinning again.  And then it came.

His name joyfully sighed from Thea’s lips. 

“Ollie!”

“It’s Oliver,” Diggle confirmed.  “Oliver’s driving the boat.  They’re alone.”

Happy tears blurred her vision and she choked back a joyous sob, taking the time to glance at Dinah to give her the signal to release Samantha.  The instant Black Canary let go, the woman called out her boy’s name.

“William!  I’m here!  William!!”  Scrambling past all of them, she raced toward the waterline. 

“Whoa! Whoa!  Easy now!”  Quentin popped up from his hiding spot near the water just in time to stop Samantha from launching herself into the water, uncaring of her fears or inability to swim. 

“Mom!”  William’s answering call came quickly.  

“My son, I have to get to my son!” She struggled in his grasp, but Quentin held firm and talked her down from her moment of madness.

“He’ll be coming to you, but answer him.  Let him see you.”

Samantha latched on to Quentin’s instructions, repeatedly calling “I’m here! I’m here!” while waving her arms above her head even while sobbing.  Her knees weakened and without Lance’s support, she would have sunk to the deck.    

Thea joined Samantha at the water’s edge calling her brother’s name.  “Ollie!  We’re over here!”

Curtis and Rene contributed their hoots and hollers and while Felicity desperately wanted to add her voice, she couldn’t get anything past the tightness in her throat.  Without her needing to say a word, John helped her to her feet.  He seemed to know a hug would have shattered her control and instead squeezed her hand in encouragement before gently with his hand on her back, guiding her further down on deck.

All the commotion from the Amazo had not gone unnoticed.  The boat’s engines roared to life and as soon as it rounded a rocky outcropping in the shallow waters near the shore, Oliver throttled it to maximum and sped the boat their direction.  Joyous cries and whistles went up from on deck.

In no time that still stretched like forever, the cabin cruiser pulled up close.  Oliver cut the engines at the last moment so waves swamped the lower deck as the boat glided the rest of the way on momentum with William hopping up and down and calling “Mom, Mom, Mom!” the entire time.  The boy looked unharmed and at least from this distance, so did Oliver, but until she could touch him and see for herself, she wouldn’t know for certain; the dark green of his suit hid the stain of blood too well. 

Oliver readied lines to secure the boat.  Rene caught one rope and Curtis the other.  Thea was there to help William scramble down over the cruiser’s railing, splash through the ankle deep water and into his mom’s arms before the guys finished tying the ropes. Thea wasted no time herself, leaping into the boat to hug her brother.  Oliver hugged her back while scanning the deck of the Amazo. 

Felicity followed Oliver's gaze to where Samantha sat collapsed to her knees squeezing William hard, running her hands over him, like she was afraid to trust her eyes.  Quentin watched from the side and for a second his joy at seeing a mother and son reunited wavered and the sorrow and longing on his face was so fierce as to hurt to witness.  Thea must have seen it as well and in the next instant, she willingly detached herself from her brother’s side to climb back down to the Amazo.  She called Lance for help despite her earlier nimble ascent and then let him help her to a higher spot on deck out of the way near where Dinah and Nyssa watched and waited.     

Felicity herself waited on deck behind Dig who had stepped up to meet Oliver, exchanging a quick clasp of hands and a short, but heartfelt bro hug.  “Where’s Slade”, Oliver asked, still scanning the deck for possible threats. 

Diggle shook his head. “Not on board.  I’ll explain later.” And then he stepped aside and instantly, Oliver’s gaze locked on hers. 

For a second, neither of them moved and then naked relief washed over Oliver’s face and together they closed the distance between them.  His hands reached out to cradle her head while her arms twined around his neck. The tilt of the deck put them at the same height, so there was no mistaking when his eyes fell to her mouth, the only warning before his lips crashed into hers.  This kiss wasn’t like the short, almost perfunctory kiss she’d given him when there’d been no time to express all the feelings she’d stored up.  This time, there was time; the world could wait.  Emotion poured out between them; love, fear, need, and overwhelming relief all joyfully communicated before they broke apart, allowing only the barest of distance between them.      

“What was that for?” She joked, trying to get her emotions under control knowing they were under the eager eyes of their team.  Oliver though, didn’t care who was watching. 

Still cupping her face in his hands, he feasted his gaze on what he saw.  The glowing light from the fires on Lian Yu caught the liquid in his eyes and turned it to gold and suddenly, there was no one else in the world but Oliver.  

“Because I love you,” he answered, simply and directly, stealing her ability to breath in the best way.   Oliver tenderly brushed the side of her face with his thumb, gently skirting around the scrape on her cheek.  “Because I needed to.”   He then smiled that sweet smile he saved just for her, “And because I can.” 

On a whimper, she pulled him back into another kiss, this one dampened by tears, but no less joyful or fierce. He gathered her into his arms and held on like he was never letting go.  And this time there was no letting go.  They still needed to talk about so much, but this time they both understood there was no pushing the other away.  No hiding from what they needed in each other.  Too quickly the sound of someone purposefully clearing their throat broke through their bubble.  Felicity lifted her head to see all eyes on them, including the curious gaze coming from William’s deeply, familiar looking blue eyes.  

Keeping one arm firmly locked around her waist, Oliver turned them to face the crowd but addressed only one member.

“William, I’d really like you to meet…,”

“Felicity,” William jumped in to finish. 

Oliver nodded, but surprise in hearing her name come from William lingered on his face.  Samantha touched her son’s shoulder and asked, “Sweetie, where did you hear that name before?” 

Since Oliver didn’t seem to be the source, Felicity was curious as well. Also, a bit irked that Samantha thought it mattered, but mostly curious.    

The boy turned to his mom.  “The man, the bad man…he said he was going to take her away from him like he was going to take you from me.  My…dad…,” he shyly started to say, but with an underlying touch of hero worship.

Felicity silently gasped and darted her eyes to Oliver.  William knew Oliver – and the Green Arrow - was his father?  Oliver looked shaken, but there was such hope in his eyes. Joy for him swamped her and squeezing his hand in hers, she blinked back another wave of tears. 

“My dad,” William continued, “he said his friends would do everything they could to keep anything from happening you,” he told his mom and then flickered his attention back toward where Felicity stood with his father.  “I’m glad nothing happened to you either.”  

She could only smile and nod rapidly.  

“What’s going to happen now?” William asked, looking to his dad.

Instead of answering, Oliver turned to Felicity.  “The radio on the boat is disabled.  Do you think you or Curtis could take a look?”

“Of course, but before Slade took off with it, Dig got through on the life boat’s radio.”

“John?”

“It’ll be a few hours, but ARGUS is on their way.”

Oliver closed his eyes, for a moment, overcome with emotions. Felicity leaned into him a little more to remind him he wasn’t alone.  “Thank you,” he said, relief that this really was going to be over making his voice raw in places.  “Thank you, all of you.”   

Felicity looked at Oliver and then their team, brimming with pride, gratitude, and love.  Adrian Chase dedicated his life to destroying Oliver.  He’d played a game ten steps ahead almost the entire time, but he’d miscalculated in bringing all those who Oliver loved and cared about to the island.  Chase, for all his careful study of Oliver, never really knew him.  For Chase, love was a weakness to be sheared off so as not to be used against him, but love was always Oliver’s secret weapon.  A once untapped potential that ten years of trials and suffering had only managed to strengthen.    

By bringing all of Oliver’s friends and family to the island, Chase gave Oliver the ultimate motivator to never give up and a team that always had his back.  She doubted any of them would leave the island without carrying back a few new scars, the invisible kind that if left alone in the dark could fester and choke, but that was also part of Chase’s final miscalculation.  They were more than a team.  They were a family.  She leaned into Oliver’s warmth and wrapped her arms around his waist, holding onto the man and life and love she refused to ever let go of as he in turn held tightly onto her.  No one was alone in this.  Whatever trauma Chase had intended to inflict, they would face together and overcome.  That was the lesson Oliver had fought to learn, but one a man like Chase could never hope to understand.  And for that reason, his plan had always been doomed to fail.

Oliver was no longer the lone vigilante whose first instinct was to push those he cared most for out of his orbit.  He was still struggling to trust those instincts, but the dark fear over what kind of man he’d had to become to survive was no longer festering in the shadows, tainting his past and present.  Chase with his mind games shined a light that forced Oliver to recognize a nightmare he’d refused to put a name to, one Chase had expected Oliver to bury back in the shadows of his soul.  But instead, Oliver had broken the poisonous silence and let her and Diggle in, trusting their faith in him even before his faith in himself was restored. 

“So…we get to go home?”  William asked.  “The bad guys didn’t win?”

She saw the deeper answer on Oliver’s face now as William spoke of going home.  They would return home, but the change was already made.  There was no way in hell Oliver would let William walk out of his life again. Fear for what the future could bring wouldn’t just vanish, but she saw Oliver’s faith in himself, in her, and in those around him.  They would figure out the future together.

Felicity smiled and then laughed, unable to contain the feeling of joyful jubilation about what came next in their lives.  Not even the fires of purgatory could hold them down.  Victory, and all the spoils that came with their newly secured future, belonged to all of them. A matching grin appeared on Oliver’s beautiful face.  

“That’s right,” Oliver agreed, speaking to the whole team, but letting his gaze linger on William, John, and Thea before settling finally on her, still wrapped tightly in his arms, “the bad guys didn’t win.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: The lifeboats on the Amazo is completely canon compliant. In the finale, there is a scene with Nyssa and Malcolm unloading the plane on the beach and in the background is the Amazo and I noticed these bright orange things at the stern of the ship. I did a little searching for similar freighters to the Amazo just to get a better idea of the layout of the ship and realized what those orange things in the back were. They were absolutely there when the island blew up. So they’d have been there when Sara was left stranded as well. :(


End file.
